''Meconopsis gakyidiana'' (ཚེར་སྔོན་མེ་ཏོག in Dzongkha) is a species of blue poppy native to Eastern Bhutan, Western Arunachal Pradesh of India and Southern Xizang of China. It is the national flower of

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

Description

''Meconopsis gakyidiana'' is a loose tuft-forming plant with short rhizomes and tall stems. Leaves are more or less alternate on the main stem and they are yellowish-green in color. Flowers are bowl-shaped and they usually change color from purple to blue, often pale blue-tinged with purple. Sometimes, flowers are dark red but this is rare. It is similar to '' Meconopsis baileyi'' but differs from by having bowl-shaped flowers with distinctly concave petals, orange-coloured thecae and longer style.

Taxonomy

The national flower of

was thought previously to be '' Meconopsis grandis'' (previously treated as ''M. grandis'' subsp. ''orientalis''). In 2017, following a collaboration between the Blue Poppy Society, Japan, and the National Biodiversity Center, Bhutan, it was found that this was a misidentification. Specimens collected by Frank Kingdon-Ward in 1938 on the Indian side of the border and by George Sherriff in 1934 in Bhutan have for a long time been treated as ''M. grandis''. However, they differ significantly from typical plants of this species. Accordingly, a new species was described, ''Meconopsis gakyidiana''. The specific epithet is derived from ''gakyi'' which is a Dzongkha word for happiness. The plant was named with the inspiration derived from the Bhutanese Development Philosophy of

Gross National Happiness Gross National Happiness, (GNH; ) sometimes called Gross Domestic Happiness (GDH), is a philosophy that guides the government of Bhutan. It includes an index used to measure a population's collective happiness and well-being. The Gross National Ha ...

. Another two new species of blue poppy were also described in addition to ''M. gakyidiana'', ''Meconopsis merakensis'' and ''Meconopsis elongata''. The new species can be found in Merak (མེ་རག), Sagteng (སག་སྟེང་) and Haa (ཧཱ) regions in Bhutan.

Distribution and habitat

''Meconopsis gakyidiana'' is currently distributed across eastern Bhutan, western Arunachal Pradesh in India, and southern Xizang (Tibet), from 3,700–4,300 m in elevation. It grows in the open shrubberies, lush pastures, beside rubble walls in grazing grounds, rarely on the sunny edge of sub-alpine forests, gregariously growing together with shrubs and other tall herbs.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q59197962 gakyidiana Flora of Bhutan National symbols of Bhutan